I was surprised when my astute editor at Bloomsbury Publishing suggested that my debut novel, Wither, could be called “gothic.” The book contains no ghosts, no castles, not even a graveyard—at least not in the traditional sense. Not one dang ghoul. I threw my chair and began to shriek in protest, but then considered a more modern sense of the gothic label, one that emphasizes atmosphere over story elements: lingering dread, inescapable past, bleak landscape, the possibility of the supernatural, and the existential crisis sparked by this unnatural encounter.
I abruptly stopped sobbing, righted my chair and gave a thumbs-up.
Everything that I treasure about horror is reflected in gothic literature. The awe and terror of the unknown, the thrill of impending doom, grazing the veil between the known and unknowable—this I find far more compelling than blood and guts. And the patience displayed in great gothic stories recognizes the pleasure of mystery, rather than its resolution.
Some of the books below might not typically come up in a discussion of Gothic literature, but all contain some elements or atmosphere that seat them in the good company of great Gothic stories.
Counternarratives by John Keene
Controversial pick number one, this collection of stories and novellas is a thousand things, including gothic stories of slavery and racism in the Americas. What could early on be mistaken for an academic historical text deconstructs itself into personal narratives that sometimes veer off into strange, eerie places. Recommended for literary readers looking for mesmerizing prose, sharp humor, and sentences that will make you want to be a better person.
Gene Wolfe might be best known to the general public as the Pringles mascot (seriously, that’s not a joke, I wouldn’t joke about stuff like that) but he’s also a sci-fi legend who wrote this quiet literary novel early in his career. Peace is a lush story of an old man recalling his charming upbringing in a friendly midwestern town. That’s it. Nothing else. Whatever sense of dread you find coagulating as you get deeper into it—that’s on you.
This is one of those few books that, on turning the last page, I immediately flipped the book over and restarted on page one. My local bookseller described it aptly as a horror in which all of the horror happens off the page.
The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing
A wry, matter-of-fact domestic story of a growing family flies off the rails with the arrival of a new sibling who, to put it lightly, is a bit odd. The parental and family dynamics are so unsettling, the decisions so painful, that you will find yourself rehashing the moral questions long after you’ve put down this slim 1988 novel. And the isolation of a country house with a mysterious, sinister presence lands this firmly in gothic territory while flaunting genre expectations.
Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
A woman dying in a hospital bed talks with a boy named David about her last few days of vacation in the countryside with her child. But David isn’t her child. And he wants her to remember something specific.
Intense, creepy, and anxious, this short novel pulls off a feat with a hallucinatory framing of a deceptively straightforward story that shakes you on an emotional level. Schweblin’s work always defies the genres she toys with, and she’s masterful at keeping you hooked.
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
One of the more traditional horror novels on this list, The Reformatory is a Southern Gothic ghost story set in a horrific segregated reform school in the 1950s. I would recommend anything written by Due (The Good House deserves a spot on this list, too) and The Reformatory exemplifies how stark, serious social commentary is intrinsic to her gripping horror stories and humane characters, rather than a thematic addition.
Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey
When a daughter returns home to care for her estranged, dying mother, she must confront the trauma that upended her childhood in that very house, and her complicated relationship with her parents. A traditional gothic setup, but as the story unravels, this parental relationship might be more complicated than most. Just a bit.
Disturbing and immensely creepy, Gailey’s story spirals you down into the dark basement of the house, and you’ll enjoy every minute of it.
A Sunny Place for Shady People by Mariana Enriquez
Any of Mariana Enriquez’s story collections belong on this list, in which the spirits of past political and social upheaval drift through the dark streets of Buenos Aires and beyond, refusing to be forgotten. Direct, furious, and haunting, the atmospheric dread and ghost-story pacing keep her work fully entertaining, even with the real-life horrors that lurk beneath it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dan Warner is a writer and documentary filmmaker from St. Louis, Missouri, where he lives with his wife and kids in an old home under perpetual repair.